An undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia has malfunctioned, causing an electricity outage.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed that authorities are investigating the disruption to the undersea electricity cable linking Finland and Estonia.
According to the Nord Pool power exchange, the Estlink 2 cable, which transmits electricity to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, failed on Wednesday.
“Authorities are investigating the matter during the Christmas holiday,” Orpo stated on X, adding that Finland’s power supply remains unaffected.
Fingrid, the cable’s operator, will begin assessing the damage Thursday morning, according to network operations manager Arto Pahkin.
“We are exploring various potential causes, ranging from technical malfunction to sabotage, and no possibilities have been excluded,” Pahkin told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday. “At least two ships were in the vicinity of the cable at the time of the incident.”
Elering, Estonia’s transmission system operator, assured that Estonia’s electricity supply will remain stable. “The specific reserve capacities to be activated depend on market conditions, but Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have these reserve capacities available,” Elering board member Reigo Kebja told public broadcaster ERR.
Last month saw disruptions to two undersea telecommunication cables: C-Lion1 (Germany-Finland) and BCS East-West Interlink (Sweden-Lithuania). German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated at the time that Berlin had to “assume, without definitive evidence, that sabotage caused the damage.”
These cables run near the Nord Stream pipelines sabotaged in September 2022. Although no one claimed responsibility, several Western media outlets reported links to Ukraine.
In October 2024, Moscow asserted it possessed “evidence” implicating the US and UK in the Nord Stream sabotage. London, Washington, and Kyiv all denied any involvement.